Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
May 20 through September 13, 2026
In May 2026, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, will host the U.S. debut of a selection of modern masterworks by Pablo Picasso, Paul Klee, Henri Matisse, Alberto Giacometti, and other figures of the postwar European avant-garde, assembled by the famed gallerist and collector Heinz Berggruen. The exhibition explores Berggruen’s relationship with the artists, literary community, and art-market network to which he was intimately connected in postwar Paris, through his Berggruen & Cie gallery on Rue de l’Université. Picasso–Klee–Matisse: Masterpieces from the Museum Berggruen will be on view at the MFAH May 20 through September 13, 2026.
“I am honored to bring to the U.S. and to Houston these exceptional masterworks from the collection of the Museum Berggruen in Berlin,” comments Gary Tinterow, director and Margaret Alkek Williams chair of the MFAH. “It is especially rewarding to introduce our audiences to the life and legacy of Heinz Berggruen—a pioneering art dealer, publisher, and collector whom I was privileged to know and work with for more than two decades. His exhibitions on the rue de l’Université were a must for every art collector visiting Paris, and his museum in Berlin has become a pilgrimage point for connoisseurs.”
“This exhibition is a chance to discover some less-familiar works by some of the greatest artists of the 20th century, reflecting the personal taste of a discerning collector,” notes Ann Dumas, consulting curator of European art at the MFAH. Dena Woodall, the museum’s curator of prints and drawings, adds, “The exhibition blends both a monographic and theme-based focus; it is the first time the museum is showing the work of Paul Klee in such depth—from his mysterious, lyrical drawings to his studies of color and form, stemming from his time as a teacher at the Bauhaus.”
About the Exhibition
Between the 1940s and the 1990s, Heinz Berggruen assembled a singular collection of hundreds of modern masterworks, many of them directly from the artists. As a dealer, he became his own best client, forming his collection guided by his particular tastes and affinities. Picasso–Klee–Matisse: Masterpieces from the Museum Berggruen presents more than 95 of the works—paintings, watercolors, drawings, and sculptures—that Berggruen collected. The MFAH exhibition combines thematic areas of focus, including still life, portraits, the human figure, and landscapes, with in-depth presentations devoted to individual artists, highlighting the entire careers of Picasso and Klee and showcasing Matisse’s signature cut-outs, Giacometti’s haunting, elongated sculptures and paintings and drawings by Paul Cézanne and Georges Braque.
Between the 1940s and the 1990s, Heinz Berggruen assembled a singular collection of hundreds of modern masterworks, many of them directly from the artists. As a dealer, he became his own best client, forming his collection guided by his particular tastes and affinities. Picasso–Klee–Matisse: Masterpieces from the Museum Berggruen presents more than 95 of the works—paintings, watercolors, drawings, and sculptures—that Berggruen collected. The MFAH exhibition combines thematic areas of focus, including still life, portraits, the human figure, and landscapes, with in-depth presentations devoted to individual artists, highlighting the entire careers of Picasso and Klee and showcasing Matisse’s signature cut-outs, Giacometti’s haunting, elongated sculptures and paintings and drawings by Paul Cézanne and Georges Braque.
A gallery of the exhibition will be devoted to the story of Heinz Berggruen (1914–2007). Born into a Jewish family in Berlin-Wilmersdorf, Germany, Berggruen studied literature at university and, in the 1930s, began to write on culture for German newspapers. In 1936 he fled Nazi persecution; emigrating to the United States, he initially worked in California as a freelance arts journalist before securing a curatorial post in 1939 at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. After World War II, Berggruen returned to Europe, and in 1947 founded his gallery in Paris, representing many of the artists whose works he began to collect privately. In 1980 he retired from his gallery and concentrated on expanding his own collection. In 2000, Berggruen placed the collection with the German state; it is now housed in the Museum Berggruen in Berlin-Charlottenburg as part of the Berlin State Museums/Foundation of Prussian Cultural Heritage. The Museum Berggruen is currently closed for renovation and its collection is touring internationally.
Organization and Funding
Pablo Picasso, The Yellow Sweater, 1939, oil on canvas, Museum Berggruen, Neue Nationalgalerie - Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin. © 2026 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Paul Klee, Sealed Lady, 1930, pen and watercolor on paper on paperboard, Museum Berggruen, Neue Nationalgalerie - Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin.
Henri Matisse, Vegetal Elements, 1947, gouache cut-out on paper mounted on canvas, Museum Berggruen, Neue Nationalgalerie - Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin.
This exhibition is organized by the Museum Berggruen–Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
IMAGES
Pablo Picasso, The Yellow Sweater, 1939, oil on canvas, Museum Berggruen, Neue Nationalgalerie - Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin. © 2026 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Paul Klee, Sealed Lady, 1930, pen and watercolor on paper on paperboard, Museum Berggruen, Neue Nationalgalerie - Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin.
Henri Matisse, Vegetal Elements, 1947, gouache cut-out on paper mounted on canvas, Museum Berggruen, Neue Nationalgalerie - Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin.
